Island in a Storm: a book review

Island in a Storm tells the riveting story of one of America's greatest hurricane disasters--the ravaging of Louisiana's Isle Derniere by the notorious Last Island Hurricane of 1856. If you haven't heard of Isle Derniere, there's a good reason why--the 13 - 18 foot storm surge of the Category 4 Last Island Hurricane completely submerged the 24-mile long, 5 to 6 foot high barrier island, which lay 5 miles off the central Louisiana coast. The resulting erosion by the pounding waves and wind-driven currents stripped away huge amounts of the island's sand, cutting a new channel through the 1/2-mile wide island. The author tells us, "During the 1856 hurricane, Isle Derniere was pushed beyond a tipping point from which it could not recover". Continued erosion during the 150 years since the 1856 hurricane has reduced the land area of Isle Derniere to less than 22% of what it once was (Figure 2).

The authorThe book's author is Dr. Abby Sallenger, who heads the U.S. Geological Survey's Storm Impact research group, which investigates how the coast changes after extreme storms. The book is very clearly the work of a methodically-minded scientist, as the book quotes heavily from a broad range of historical sources throughout the text. Sallenger includes 50 pages of detailed notes and references at the end of the book. I found that the quotes were well-chosen and illuminating, and added a 19th-century feel to the book.

Figure 1. Track of the Last Island Hurricane.

A history bookIsland in a Storm starts out as a history book, as we are introduced to the various people who will eventually be caught in the great hurricane. Sallenger spends six of the book's sixteen chapters setting the stage for the great disaster, and this portion of the story may drag on too long for readers who are disinterested in the history of Louisiana in the mid-1800s. I found it fascinating to read about the Yellow Fever epidemic that hit the region during 1856, which drove many of New Orleans' wealthy residents to seek sanctuary on the seemingly safe ocean front retreat of Isle Derniere for the summer. We are introduced to about six sets of characters during this initial portion of the book, and it does take a bit of effort to keep everyone straight as the book progresses into the storm's fury. The introductory chapters also devote a few pages to the meteorology of how hurricanes work, and the competing theories of the time. These pages do a good job giving the necessary background to understand what happened to Isle Derniere.

A survival and adventure taleWhen we reach the main portion of the book, Sallenger presents a fast-paced and riveting description of some remarkable survival tales from this great disaster. We hear the story of how the hurricane's winds gradually tore apart all the homes and hotels on Isle Derniere, leaving the hundreds of people at the mercy of the storm surge. Many were swept away, but some survived harrowing voyages on pieces of debris during a dark and terrifying night. One group of survivors on the island managed to live by hanging on to a children's carousel, whose central post had been driven deep into the sand to anchor it. As the wind and water surged the around them, the desperate survivors hung onto the whirligig as it spun around. "The twirling and twisting, the dashing and splashing, the heeling and toeing, the flapping and floundering which ensued, would at any other time have produced a first-class comedy", one of the survivors relates. We also hear the remarkable tale of several ships caught in the storm. The crew of one ship driven aground by the storm leaped off their ship into the roiling storm surge in an attempt to seek shelter on the submerged barrier island. On another ship, "Captain Thompson could now view his cargo of livestock crowded onto the forward half of the main deck. The cows and horses and mules slid astern as the waves lifted and over-topped the bow. White water streamed through their hooves. The animals stumbled forward as the bow fell into holes and side to side as the vessel rolled".

A cautionary taleThe book ends with several chapters devoted to the aftermath of the hurricane. The survivors on the storm-ravaged island were not visited at first by relief ships, but by pirates eager to prey on the dead and the living. Relief eventually reached the 200 or so survivors on the island, and a romance leading to marriage is one happy outcome of the storm's wake.

Barrier islands are terrible places to build human settlements, and "the lesson of the flood was not forgotten," according to one of the survivors. The resorts on Isles Dernieres were never rebuilt. Sallenger notes that "such lessons are forgotten or ignored. In the last century and a half, the Village of Isle Derniere was one of only a few seafront communities that were destroyed or severely damaged in a storm and never rebuilt. The common practice is not only to rebuild structures on devastated coasts but also to make them bigger and more elaborate...We continue in the United States to develop extremely hazardous coastal locations, like the low-lying areas on the Bolivar Peninsula east of Galveston, Texas, that were wiped out in 2008 by Hurricane Ike. The extreme vulnerability of such locations today will only increase as the world's seas rise."

Figure 2. Graphic from Island in a Storm, showing the long-term deterioration of Isle Derniere into multiple islands, now called Isles Dernieres. The island lost 78% of its land area between 1888 and 1988, and the remains of the island migrated 2/3 of a mile northwards. Further destruction of the islands has been arrested by a large-scale dredging project that adds mud and shells from the nearby sea bottom. Image credit: Coasts in Crisis, USGS Circular 1075, 1990.

SummarySallenger's first-class story-telling of the remarkable tales of survival during the Last Island Hurricane make this a book well worth reading. My only gripe is that the book could have benefited from better graphics than the few black-and-white figures that are of mediocre quality. Nevertheless, Island in a Storm rates 3 1/2 stars (out of four). It's $16.47 from Amazon.com.

I'll have a new post Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning, when I plan to discuss why some El Niño episodes in recent years have had high Atlantic hurricane activity associated with them. As you may have guessed, there is no Atlantic tropical activity worth mentioning, and no models are predicting tropical storm formation over the next seven days.

An excellent non-fiction hurricane story - I don't know if this was already discussed somewhere among the 1257 current posts on this topic as I am not about to review them all :) I just finished an EXCELLENT book on the 1900 Galveston, TX Hurricane that claimed an estimated 6,000 to 10,000 lives. It includes the beginning of the U.S. Weather Service, the politics involved, the Cuban hurricane experts and how they were ignored and regarded as 'natives' and 'superstitious witch doctors' and our arrogance that cost many lives. Written by Erik Larson from bits of information from various sources (all of which are listed in detail in the back of the book), it is the story of Issac Cline and his rise in the U.S. Weather Service and position in Galvestion, TX. The descriptions of the events preceding, during and after the storm are a little disconcerting due to the deaths and manner of deaths - all backed by records and first hand testimonials that were written down. A good read all the way around. See the book at http://www.amazon.com/Isaacs-Storm-Deadliest-Hurricane-History/dp/0609602330/ref=cm_cr_dp_orig_subj

Quoting A4Guy:456 - thanks for the post...for some reason, I cannot see the 2009 map in the posting - can you mail it (or link) to me? Where are you getting these maps - would like to have the link.Thanks.

Quoting A4Guy:456 - thanks for the post...for some reason, I cannot see the 2009 map in the posting - can you mail it (or link) to me? Where are you getting these maps - would like to have the link.Thanks.

Ensemble has been weakly hinting at a developing coastal surface (inverted) trough over the weekend that...depending on it's eventual position...could keep rain chances on the more moderate chance track.

ANY INITIALIZATION ERRORS WITH THE NAM AND GFS DO NOT APPEAR TOSIGNIFICANTLY IMPACT THEIR SOLUTIONS.

...WAVE PASSING OFF THE SOUTHEAST COAST DAY 1...

THE NAM...GEM GLOBAL...AND GFS ARE FASTER AND DEEPER WITH THIS LOWTHAN THE ECMWF...GEFS MEAN...AND 12Z/07 EC ENSEMBLE MEAN. THEUKMET IS ALSO FASTER...BUT DOES NOT INDICATE THE APPARENTTRANSITION TO A TROPICAL SYSTEM THAT THE OTHER MORE DEVELOPEDMODELS DO. WILL RELY ON THE ROBUST CONSENSUS INCLUDING THECURRENT GEFS MEAN AND DETERMINISTIC ECMWF...AS WELL AS THE OLD ECENSEMBLE MEAN...WHICH KEEP THIS WAVE FLAT.

...COLD FRONT CROSSING THE NORTHERN ROCKIES DAY 1...

THE GFS IS FASTER THAN THE NAM...GEM GLOBAL...UKMET...AND ECMWF TOBOW OUT THIS BOUNDARY ACROSS THE WESTERN GREAT LAKES DAY 3...DUETO ITS EARLIER INCORPORATION OF THE ARCTIC SHORTWAVE PLUNGING WESTOF HUDSON BAY. WILL CONSIDER THE GFS TO BE A LOW PROBABILITYOUTLIER...AND RELY ON THE FAIRLY ROBUST CONSENSUS OF THE OTHERGUIDANCE.

Quoting Weather456:The spatial extent of 2009 TCHP also rivals 2005. This is really no surpise since the Atlantic is generally cloud free. But God, if one blob of convection finds 10 knots of shear, it could be bad. Wind shear seems to the moderator of this season.

Do you have any comparison maps you can post showing TCHP in July 2005 and now?

Mornng Kman........nothing on the Vorticity return on that area at all! Blob like that need watched but, it takes 2-3 days if not longer to get anything spinning in the Lower Levels!

Good day to you Tampa. What I have noticed is that the Caribbean has been developing pockets of low shear near to pockets of high shear which is generally not conducive for development. We have yet to see a high settle right over an area of sustained convection or a large enough area of low shear to give protection to a thunderstorm cluster.

The blob is showing very good upper level divergence but no lower level convergence at all. Again, this has been the pattern this year and that will also not produce a cyclone.

Until these patterns change it is unlikely that we will see a TD form.

The spatial extent of 2009 TCHP also rivals 2005. This is really no surpise since the Atlantic is generally cloud free. But God, if one blob of convection finds 10 knots of shear, it could be bad. Wind shear seems to the moderator of this season.

Quoting AussieStorm:Whats the shear like in the GOMEX atm, if that blob makes it into the GOMEX and the conditions are in its favor, oh i dont want to think what might happen.

20 knots around Bay of Campechee but low North of there....Since it is currently classified as a "wave" by NHC, it will probably keep moving to the West, theoretically, and dissipate over land; I seriously doubt that it is going to survive and make it into the Gulf, but, it seems to be "trying" to inch Northward towards a more favorable sheer environment...We will probably know the answer by this evening...

the hurricane season of 2000 was a late starter and wasn't bad. The worse was hurricanekeith, but even that wasn't that bad as hurricanes landfalling in certain parts of mexico or central america usually cause extensive deaths, keith didn't.

the hurricane season of 1984 was a late starter and only one hurricane made landfall in the whole basin (which was a cat 2, maybe borderline 3?) i bet i can find many more.

The Blob is under considerable sheer right now but it has a pocket of very low sheer to it's North and North East between Cuba and the Yucatan....Not sure if it will be around long enough to make it up there, or, whether it will just die out (causing some considerable mudslide and flooding problems for Honduras)....But, it has been a persistent little Bugger for the last several hours...If is stays stationary/hear current location, the sheer will rip it apart eventually IMHO.

Whats the shear like in the GOMEX atm, if that blob makes it into the GOMEX and the conditions are in its favor, oh i dont want to think what might happen.

The Blob is under considerable sheer right now but it has a pocket of very low sheer to it's North and North East between Cuba and the Yucatan....Not sure if it will be around long enough to make it up there, or, whether it will just die out (causing some considerable mudslide and flooding problems for Honduras)....But, it has been a persistent little Bugger for the last several hours...If is stays stationary/hear current location, the sheer will rip it apart eventually IMHO.